Bestselling Authors Sue OpenAI for Copyright Infringement
The Authors Guild, in association with sixteen other high-profile authors, such as George R.R. Martin and Sylvia Day, are putting pressure on the use of AI to create second-hand novels using their works by jointly filing a lawsuit against ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for copyright infringement.
On September 19, 2023, 17 authors, including George R. R. Martin, David Baldacci, and Jodi Picoult, jointly filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. They alleged that the organization has engaged in widespread copyright infringement through its ChatGPT program. The authors seek unspecified monetary damages and an injunction that blocks OpenAI from continuing to use the authors’ work in training its ChatGPT AI. This lawsuit comes at the heels of a similar lawsuit filed in July 2023 on behalf of Sarah Silverman and two other authors, accusing Meta and OpenAI of illegally using copyrighted works to train their AI systems.
The Authors Guild, a New York-based professional organization for published writers, organized the lawsuit. The lawsuit includes plaintiffs such as: David Baldacci, Mary Bly, Michael Connelly, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham, Elin Hilderbrand, Christina Baker Kline, Maya Shanbhag Lang, Victor LaValle, George R.R. Martin, Jodi Picoult, Douglas Preston, Roxana Robinson, George Saunders, Scott Turow, and Rachel Vail.
“It is imperative that we stop this theft in its tracks, or we will destroy our incredible literary culture, which feeds many other creative industries in the U.S.,” Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger said in a statement. She also said: “Great books are generally written by those who spend their careers and, indeed, their lives, learning and perfecting their crafts. To preserve our literature, authors must have the ability to control if and how their works are used by generative AI.”
In a statement on September 20, 2023, an OpenAI spokesperson said, “We’re having productive conversations with many creators around the world, including the Authors Guild, and have been working cooperatively to understand and discuss their concerns about AI. We’re optimistic we will continue to find mutually beneficial ways to work together to help people utilize new technology in a rich content ecosystem.”
The lawsuit cites a specific ChatGPT search for every plaintiff author. For example, a search of George R. R. Martin allegedly generated “an infringing, unauthorized, and detailed outline for a prequel” to “A Game of Thrones” that was titled “A Dawn of Direwolves.” It used “the same characters from Martin’s existing books in the series “A Song of Ice and Fire.”
In addition to the Silverman lawsuit, other authors have also sued OpenAI in a San Fransisco court for “clear infringement of intellectual property.”
All these lawsuits come after a growing concern that authors could be replaced by systems such as ChatGPT. These concerns are also one of the main reasons behind the recent WGA strike, which saw a monumental deal be struck between them and AMPTP. One of the more interesting agreement terms shows that writers and companies can use AI in their shows or movies moving forward. This agreement will undoubtedly be a talking point in the cases mentioned above if they reach a courtroom. Depending on how these lawsuits proceed, it could begin a remarkably interesting IP litigation era.